Even in the "warmer" places, it's not going to feel like it's much above zero for the next few days. And "lake effect" snows are expected to pile up around the Great Lakes.

Weather Underground's Jeff Masters says this big freeze is bringing some of the coldest temperatures the nation has seen in nearly two years. And the low, low readings will continue through the week from the upper Plains to New England and down into the mid-Atlantic.

National Weather Service meteorologist Jon Hitchcock tells The Buffalo News that "we're finally back to the dead of winter, and it looks like it's going to last for a while. This probably will be the coldest we've seen in a couple of years."

At 6:15 a.m. ET today in Cleveland it was 11 degrees and with the wind it felt like -14, The Plain Dealer reports. Schools across Northeast Ohio (and in many other places in the grip of this cold snap) are closed today because of the weather.